Dag Kilen News

The Woodmac report we saw offered us cause for pause — “Strong activity from the (major oil companies)” while “national oil companies have tightened their purse strings.” What Maritime Reporter found, was that national oil companies — nation-builders, for many — are putting their money in affiliate shipyards. The hope of two, new shipbuilding giants is jobs, innovation, national survival and export security. The model is to invite those who have done it before: Koreans, Japanese, French and a contractor with offshore and marine experience.

Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s second-largest producer, may drop because the nation’s tanker fleet is too small to carry all its cargoes, as European Union sanctions cause international ship owners to avoid the country. NITC owns 39 vessels, able to carry about 70 million barrels of crude, according to its website. The fleet would be insufficient to deliver the nation’s monthly exports of about 65 million barrels because journey durations can be as long as two months, said Dag Kilen, an analyst at Fearnley Consultants A/S, a unit of Norway’s second-largest shipbroker. Sanctions already cut shipments by 300,000 to 400,000 barrels a day, Barclays Capital said on March 7. Frontline Ltd., Overseas Shipholding Group Inc.